


in our bedroom after the war

by geekmonkeii



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, I suck at tags, No Smut, Post canon, Reunion, also the birds just being happy in general, blupjeans, i wrOTE fluff?????, maybe ill add more tags later idk, mostly blupjeans centric, rest of ipre mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 15:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21181928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekmonkeii/pseuds/geekmonkeii
Summary: When her bare body had collided with his chest, and his knees gave and brought them both to the ground -- he wrapped his arms around her to keep her steady; or… perhaps himself, it was unsure. And, slowly but surely, something inside of him that had been built over twelve years began to splinter, and a hard breath came crashing and burning into his lungs as the man struggled for composure.Or;Barry and Lup's first night together after she gets her new body.





	in our bedroom after the war

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This is my first TAZ ficlet... thing. Like everyone else, I fell into it and the McElroys ruined my life. But -- what else is new?
> 
> I don't know if I WILL write anything else for TAZ -- I'm open to the idea. It was just more of the fact that this idea kept nagging at me and I really, really wanted to write it. I hope it reads well, I struggled a bit for Lup and Barry's voice -- so I hope that it doesn't come off too rusty.
> 
> I'm just very emotional over how much Barry loves Lup, that's really all that prompted this.
> 
> Unbeta'd. If you see any glaring errors, please let me know and I will fix them!
> 
> Title is from a song of the same name by Stars.

The day that Lup took her first steps in her new body, it was  _ chaos  _ the moment she hit the ground running --  _ figuratively,  _ but almost literally. Chaos in all of the best ways; chaos that spoke of a calm in the center of the storm.

Initially, she had been all awkward limbs -- stumbling like a newborn fawn. However, Barry Bluejeans had been there to catch her --  _ of course he was. _

When her bare body had collided with his chest, and his knees gave and brought them both to the ground -- he wrapped his arms around her to keep her steady; or…  _ perhaps himself,  _ it was unsure. And, slowly but surely, something inside of him that had been built over twelve years began to splinter, and a hard breath came crashing and burning into his lungs as the man struggled for composure. For Lup -- and for the rest of their family that was about to have their first  _ real  _ reunion since everything had been torn to pieces and sewn back together. Albeit, when Lup felt the quiver in his fingertips -- digging themselves shakily into her shoulder blades -- she knew that they needed more than a moment to themselves before she showed off her new body to the rest of their companions.

This was more so solidified when she pulled away and looked down at him, spotting moisture on his cheeks that she wasn’t even sure  _ he  _ was aware was present. She laughs, a noise that seems to make him melt, and cradles both of his cheeks in her hands. She thumbs over the new tear tracks -- more moisture falling to replace what she smeared away, “Man, I forgot how good I look!” 

Barry laughs, and it’s a wet noise that rattles in his throat against the emotion and tears fighting their way to the surface -- ducking down his head to hide the happy wrinkles against his eyes. And so -- with a delicacy she was not known for -- she uses a finger to tip his chin back up to look at her, “I’m about to smooch your fucking brains out, babe --”

_ And she does. _

* * *

They had insisted on a small party -- nothing  _ major,  _ nothing flashy. And by  _ they,  _ if had been Lucreita’s idea; and Taako had jumped at the chance to cook for his family again -- getting started right away on likely making  _ too much  _ food. So, more than just a few seconds after Lucreita had mentioned it off hand, it was settled. 

There had been no true argument against it, really. They were all  _ really  _ and  _ truly  _ reunited and they were  _ done running.  _ This was the end of the line, as far as cycles went, and they were content with it.  _ They had won,  _ and their reward was the rest of their life.  _ A normal life --  _ if one would consider it such.

However -- about three hours into the small party, her eyes search out for Barry and find him alone by a crackling fire -- eyes seemingly fixated on nothingness in the dark of the night. She flashes Taako and Merle a toothy grin before excusing herself to see what was occupying Barry’s thoughts -- temporarily handing off her drink to her brother. 

Barry, by his nature, was a quiet soul. His time  _ alone  _ as a lich had done nothing to fix that -- if anything, it left him more comfortable with moments of solitude than he had been before. The more thought worried her, but -- … not today. She would not let it overtake her mind  _ today. _

She struts up to him, posing a hand on her hip as the fingers. It took her sliding her fingers of her other hand up his spine to even gain his attention. Lup watches, and feels under her palm, as his muscles spasm slightly back into reality as he looks to her, a tired smile on his lips.

_ Oh ---....  _ She knew the look in his eyes well;  _ She knew so much about him  _ that it was still second nature to read him like a book. It was  _ exhaustion --  _ pure, unbridled lack of sleep where he had been running on nothing but his own motivations and fumes. There was no one left to fight, no war left to win, but he was still pushing himself like there was.

A sigh leaves freshly painted lips, and any air of show left on her face was lost then. She tips her head a little towards him, squeezing at his elbow gently, “Babe,” she starts, watching the awareness still leaking its way back into his eyes from their earlier empty occupation.  _ Where did you go off to?  _ “If you wanted to skip out early and lay down, no one is going to think any less of you. You don’t have to humor anyone here -- you have nothing to prove, you know that, right?”

There was another crack of a tired smile beginning in the corner of his lips, and a low breath escaped them like he was going to argue. Albeit, a hard glare from Lup cut him off. “ _ Babe,”  _ she reiterated, a little sharper this time, but without real heat.

Barry seems to deliberate this for a beat, looking over her shoulder where Merle and Taako had joined Magnus and Davenport in conversation beside where Lucreita had began to refresh everyone drinks. There was almost a longing look in his eyes, but it was soon replaced by the darkness of exhaustion all over again when he seems to realize that none of his companions were any closer to sleep than he would look -- and he looks back to his partner to discover her resolve had not faltered.

There’s another quiet sight hat rattles in his lungs -- and, just by that, Lup already knows she’s won before he’s even nodding to her.

So, with a few exchanges of sleepy kisses and a promise from Lup that she would join him soon, Barry retired himself to bed for the evening.

* * *

It was perhaps only a couple hours more before Lup made the decision to turn in for the night as well. While the party itself had been  _ originally  _ planned because of her, it was the first time in a very, very long time all of them had let go together like this -- and not only being together,  _ but so carefree.  _ Completely and totally with the stress of running or hiding. Thus, she had no qualms about leaving the rest of them continuing to stay up to talk and drink -- knowing it would be longer still when a tipsy Taako suggested possibly seeing if the others would entertain the company of Kravitz. 

She quietly creeps into their shared space, a delicate smile on her lips as she drinks in the sight of Barry in the bed in the low lighting. Such a  _ soft  _ gesture was a rarity from her, visible only at the most  _ perfect  _ of times -- her smiles were usually with teeth  _ bared  _ and  _ gritted --  _ like the fierce woman she was, a warning she could rip you  _ apart  _ with her calm aggression. 

But  _ no,  _ this wasn’t that smile. This was a smile reserved for those  _ she loved.  _ For Taako, for the rest of her family,  _ and for Barry.  _

Barry seemed to had gotten as far as toeing off his shoes and shouldering off his jacket -- both in heaps on the floor -- before succumbing to his exhaustion; glasses still in place perched against his nose, albeit askew from where his head was half buried into the pillow. His body was on top of the blankets as opposed to being tucked underneath them.

There was the hum of a gentle laugh in her chest before she’s sitting down on the side of the mattress, it groaning with additional weight, and the other does not stir. This in itself made her more content in her decision to persuade him to rest -- Barry was not a heavy sleeper by any means; waking at the slightest pinfall or creak in the walls. And even as much as Lup reaching out to gently extract his glasses to keep them from being damaged -- resting them on a surface nearby -- did not cause him to wake.

_ He looks so peaceful,  _ she thought to herself. And because of that, she entertained the idea of not waking him and just curling up and laying herself down to rest. Even after the Hunger had been contained, Barry still walked through life like he had a heavy weight against his shoulders -- weights of all the worlds that had been lost in their wake. It was only when her fingers gently carded themselves through the fluffed tuffs of his hair that he stirred -- a soft noise vibrating in the back of his throat before his lashes fluttered, casting shadows down his cheeks before they opened fully. And, he stares for a moment as she watches him slowly drift himself to awareness -- his eyes on her the entirety of the time.    


Barry choked out a laugh, laced with sleep. And, before Lup could ask him what brought it on, he was already offering her a response, “I… nearly forgot,” he began, voice still slightly hoarse as he awoke more so, “I… almost thought I was  _ dreaming.  _ But… this is…  _ so much better  _ than anything that I could dream up.” His dreams could only be so kind -- The implication of his words made Lup’s heart clench, but she did not betray this.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” she started, “I can go ahead and get undressed and we can rest, and-”

Barry interrupted her with a gentle shake of his head, using her still outstretched arm to raise himself into a sitting position. “No,” he began, closing more of the space between them so that he was nearly in her lap. His hands moved to cradle her face -- to run his thumbs over the rise of her cheek bones and trail their way to the tips of the points of her ears. “ _ No….  _ just….” His voice quivers, swallowing thickly around the emotion her struggled to speak through -- and with him so close, she could see tears had populated in his eyes like they had much earlier that day. “I want to look at you. I want to  _ see  _ you.” 

She wanted to ask him not to cry for her -- but she _ couldn’t ask that of him.  _ Besides, this was not a  _ sad  _ cry. He was not hurting anymore. This was the accumulation of everything that they had gone through and everything that they had lost falling back into their perfect places again.

And as the tears rolled down his cheeks in the low light and his hands trembled while they continued to explore and relearn the map of her skin, her own eyes began to burn whens he began to really grasp the  _ gravity  _ of all of this for him. Everything he had worked for to get her back -- from her missing, to giving her her body back -- to put their little love story  _ back together again  _ \-- had all come to fruition  _ finally  _ and was sitting right in front of him. Real, breathing, tangible,  _ and warm with life.  _

Lup had already known before now that there was  _ nothing  _ that Barry would not do for her. But, to be faced with it right in front of her in the form of Barry on the brink of breaking, it was almost too much for her to swallow.

“Come here--” she whispered, an invitation spoken into the air that was barely heard; but, he comes to her eagerly as her arms welcome him -- guiding him to her chest, one hand threading into his hair so that his ear could rest against her breast bone. She tips her head down, kissing the tip of his ear before whispering softly so that the words were for him alone, “Hear that, babe?” And the echo of a wet noise in response was all she needed to hear, “It’s my heart -- beating strong. Because of you --  _ and for you.  _ Always you, Barry.”

The man breaks in her arms at that -- breaks in the raw way that a human does when their rope has been pulled far too taut. But, she lets him, moving both arms now to simply hold him, nearly rocking him as she pulls her legs onto the bed and surrounds him with her body. And he holds her tight enough in return that he seems convinced that they could almost occupy the same space. 

She lets him cry against her, with soft kisses peppered against his skin that promised she would put him back together again when he was done breaking -- just like he did for her. 

* * *

_ Eventually, Barry cries himself out, and the two lovers find sleep in their embrace; really and truly together again -- like they should be. _

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed it! Blupjeans honestly owns my soul.
> 
> I have a tumblr at the same username, motherofangst, but I'm rarely there anymore.


End file.
